WW1 'Periscope Prism company' sniper scope???

[Roger Payne]

Very cogent surpmil! I am inclined to agree that the Hensoldt could just have easily been a Voigtlander, a Goerz, or an Otto Bock, & also that the Aldis is just as good an optic as those. But as we know from many instances, the enemy's kit is much better than our own.........except that whilst the perception is sometimes correct, it is by no means always. In the SAC minutes there is considerable discussion over the lateral adjustment issue, & the decision seems to fall in favour of the fitting of the prisms (well, they did go ahead & do it!) over an optically simpler scope & lateral adjustment on a mount leg. Even so, the relative merits of twin screws, one tightened as the other is slackened off, is debated against the usual German method of a single transverse worm screw. The SAC minutes make the point that if a laterally adjustable mount were to be used then the twin screws is a better idea as there is less propensity for backlash developing as the threads wear with use. As they were clearly thinking in terms of fitting the modified Aldis scopes (prism fitted) to the P'14 rifles which were being trialled over this period, what on earth made them abandon it in favour of another plagiarised German scope that at best was only the equal of the Aldis, & in some ways its inferior?? Or perhaps the answer is as simple as mentioned near the top of the paragraph.......all down to perception.